The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the petitions filed by the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions of the Shiv Sena raise many constitutional questions, which may have to be referred to a larger bench, reported PTI.

The court directed both the sides to formulate points for consideration by a larger bench by July 27.

A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kolhi was hearing six petitions filed by the two factions led by Thackeray and Shinde.

“Some of the issues, I strongly feel, may require a larger bench,” the chief justice said, according to Live Law. “Some of the issues are important constitutional issues which should be settled.”

The matter will be heard next on August 1.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde has challenged the disqualification notices issued against him and 15 other MLAs of his group by Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal on June 25. On the other hand, Thackeray filed a plea against newly-elected Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar’s decision to recognise Bharatsheth Gogawale as the new party whip. Gogawale is backed by the Shinde camp.

The cases were filed before the Supreme Court after a split in the Shiv Sena in June.

Shinde had rebelled against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government – a coalition of Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. He was supported by 40 out of Shiv Sena’s 55 MLAs.

Subsequently, the coalition was ousted from power as the Thackeray faction was reduced to a minority in the state Assembly.

Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on June 30, while the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as his deputy. On July 4, Shinde won a floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly. He got 164 votes in his support, significantly above the majority mark of 145, while 99 MLAs voted against him.